A closed large load carrier with a lifter-accessible base comprises, for example, a main plastic pallet, a closed ring, made up of hollow-chamber or structured-core panels, and a pallet cover. The lateral walls are usually foldable and can therefore be reduced in volume. A multiplicity of inserts may be present in the interior of the container for the purpose of separating or fixing the articles packed within.
When articles are stored and transported using pallets, stacking is a space-saving solution. It is always necessary here for the admissible payloads and stacking heights to be taken into account. It is only stable articles with horizontal bearing surfaces which are capable of being stacked. Loads can be provided with protective covers in order to give the articles optimum protection, projecting covers resulting in a reduction in loading volume.
The size of the associated covers is in line with the usually standard pallet sizes: 800 mm×1200 mm for Euro pallets and 1000 mm×1200 mm for industrial pallets. It is customary to have smaller and larger pallet sizes designed as fractions (e.g. 600×800) or a multiple (e.g. 1200×1600) of the main modules in each case.
The known covers are often injection-molded or thermoformed covers made of plastics. In particular covers for Euro pallets or industrial pallets or even larger covers often have a weight of more than 20 kg. Many countries have regulations which stipulate that parts above 12 kg have to be moved by 2 people. Moreover, covers of different sizes require additional, and usually very expensive, shaping tools of different sizes.
DE 10 2008 023 565 A1 relates to a transporting apparatus for the protected transportation of an article, having a base part, having a horizontal use surface and having a cover part. The cover part is spaced apart from the use surface of the base part by spacers provided in the corners of the base part. The spacers, which are injection molded from plastic, delimit the use surface around the outside. Angled elements for positioning on the side-part segments are provided on the underside of the cover. The transporting apparatus described is not suitable as a stacking container.
The container presented in DE 20 2008 015 157 U1 has a base profile all the way round, side walls of the container being plugged, in a manner known per se, into said base profile and fastened there. The container is closed by a cover. The cover has a cover flange and a cover-terminating profile all the way round. The invention provides for special stacking corners in each corner of the cover. Each stacking corner is designed such that it engages over the corner radius of the cover and extends a little beyond that still, for example by approximately half the corner radius, so that, to some extent, it also extends along the side wall of the container. Whereas the containers for the most part, that is to say also including the cover, are formed preferably from light metal, in particular from an aluminum alloy, the stacking corners preferably consist of impact-resistant and tough, but dimensionally stable, plastic, for example of ABS. The heavy metallic cover is suitable only for relatively small containers.
Covers for transport containers having a pallet base and a foldable wall ring are also described, for example, in EP 2 860 125 A2 or US 2014/0,284,247 A1. The covers described project beyond the container, as a result of which additional space is lost.
A reusable container according to DE 29 907 964 U1 comprises a stackable pallet, a sleeve, which can be plugged in a removable manner thereon, and a cover, which can be placed in position on said sleeve and closes the container, wherein the pallet and cover are shape-adapted to one another, at least in certain regions, such that they fit together—possibly with the interposition of a collapsed sleeve.
Such reusable containers of this type have an important role to play in logistics. Their particular advantage is that, for the purpose of transporting articles, they can be assembled, by virtue of a pallet, sleeve and cover being put together, to form a fully functioning container, which can be collapsed when not in use, that is to say when being returned in the empty state.
DE 19 833 364 C2 describes a packaging unit having a base part and having a covering part. The covering part is a so-called twin-sheet cover. Two-shell production from plastic in a twin-sheet process gives the components a relatively low weight along with a simultaneously high level of stability. In a twin-sheet process, in a manner known per se, two plastic sheets are thermally deformed at the same time and, in the thermoplastic state, are connected integrally to one another, that is to say welded, at suitable locations to create the cavities. The disadvantage here is that different cover sizes each require tools which have to be prepared specifically for them. Cost-effective production is possible only if very large numbers are being produced.
It is an object of the invention to propose a cover for a stackable transport pallet which provides an alternative to the prior art and has, on the one hand, a high level of stability and, on the other hand, a low weight. It should be capable of being produced in different sizes using straightforward means and in a cost-effective manner, without additional shaping tools being required. The cover should be space-saving and easy to handle.